


A Second Chance

by toliveinthesky



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 22:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18416807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toliveinthesky/pseuds/toliveinthesky
Summary: Five manages a miracle and brings all of the Hargreeves siblings into the past. Ben watches his siblings, suddenly 13-years-old again, arrive in their childhood and try to figure out what to do with the unexpected second chance. Soon they realize that time travel was not the only miracle and not the only second chance.Ben can't believe it. It's impossible. He wants to believe it, but how could something so incredible...actually be...real?





	A Second Chance

Being pulled back in time was an extremely uncomfortable and nauseating experience. Ben spent those eternal seconds in the blue light trying as hard as he could to hold onto Klaus and praying that his brothers’ concentration didn’t slip—Klaus’s or Five’s. He wondered if it felt just as unpleasant to his living siblings as it did for him. His limbs seemed to tingle in bizarre ways, his stomach roiled and his lungs seemed to burn—all sensations he hadn’t felt since he had died. Actually physically feeling something wasn’t entirely unwelcome, but he wished it could have been something a little less, well, awful.  
  
The blue light briefly intensified and then vanished, leaving Ben blinking spots. He looked around and immediately recognized the now-intact Umbrella Academy. Confident that the time-and-space travel had stopped, he let go of Klaus’s shoulder and stepped back. His siblings were in quite a bit of chaos. They had all reverted to their 13-year-old selves, and Ben wondered if he had, too—it seemed likely as he wasn’t towering over them.  
  
Ben hung behind Klaus, as was his habit, and just watched everything unfold.  
  
Allison was seemingly letting out everything she had been unable to say in the past few days. Diego was grumbling over being stuck in a kid’s body, while Five was being outspokenly unsympathetic. Luther was trying to not drop the still-unconscious Vanya while adjusting to the dramatic difference of his fully human teenage body. Klaus was exclaiming about nothing exactly to no one in particular.  
  
Years of being a ghost had made him long ago stop paying attention to where other people were in relation to himself, so when Klaus’s flailing hand smacked him in the nose he was caught completely off guard.  
  
He stumbled a few steps to the left, tripped over something soft-ish, and found himself sprawled on the grass with Allison on top of him. Apparently Klaus was still keeping him corporeal enough to get whacked and fall over.  
  
“ _Klaus!_ ” Allison shouted in annoyance. “Why did you knock me over?”  
  
Ben tried to move away from Allison, but seemed unable. _Klaaausss_ , he grumbled to himself.  
  
“It wasn’t me!” Klaus was protesting. “I’m over here!”  
  
Allison regained her footing, and turned around looking confused. She turned to the ground where Ben still lay, and her mouth went slack. Ben got up and looked at the grass. It seemed a bit squished, but otherwise looked utterly ordinary.  
  
_What was she looking at?_  
  
He looked back at his siblings and found that Allison was now staring—just as shocked—at something behind Ben. He turned around, but only saw the aging brick wall of the Academy. Luther, Diego, and Five were now staring, too.  
  
“Klaus, what is everyone looking at?” Ben asked.  
  
Klaus’s brows furrowed as he turned with an unnecessary flourish. “I have no idea, Benny darling. But when did I ever understand our dear family?” He, too, looked between his siblings and the wall they were apparently extremely interested in.  
  
“Holy shit,” Diego said. Ben raised an eyebrow.  
  
“ _Ben_ ,” Allison whispered.  
  
_What?_  
  
“Ben!” she said again, suddenly rushing forward.  
  
His chest became tight. “Can...can you...see me?”  
  
“Oh my god, Ben, it’s really you.” Allison hesitantly reached for Ben, her fingers brushing his shoulder. For a moment everything seemed frozen as everyone realized that Allison was really, truly touching Ben, and then Allison threw her arms around Ben’s neck, squeezing tight. Klaus ruffled his hair so that it stood up ridiculously.  
  
“Klaus,” Ben said, “are you doing this? Is this your powers? Am I blue?”  
  
“Nah, Benny-Boy,” Klaus said, grinning wildly. “This is all you!”  
  
“Huh?” Ben didn’t have time to fully process that before Diego took his turn and gave Ben a stiff but genuine hug. His eyes were tinged red and he blinked several times too many as he said, “It’s so damn good to see, Ben.”  
  
Luther managed a one-armed backslap, still holding Vanya, and Five rather oddly shoved two fingers against Ben’s throat.  
  
“What are you doing, man?” Ben said, jumping back.  
  
“I’m checking,” Five said without his customary bitterness.  
  
Ben knew what he was checking for, and felt dizzy with a heady mix of hope and terror over what Five would say next. Would it be _nope, still dead_ or could it possibly be…  
  
“You’re not dead.”  
  
What a straightforward, typically Five way of putting one of the most revelatory things they had heard in the past week - and that was saying quite a lot, given the utter insanity the recent days had brought.  
  
“What?” was the only thing Ben could manage to say.  
  
Several of the other siblings were either openly teary or pretending they weren’t. Allison couldn’t resist hugging Ben before Klaus pushed himself in the middle.  
  
“My turn!” He smiled mischievously. “I’ve waited so long for this. This is for being such a constant nag.” He punched Ben in the shoulder.  
  
Their siblings exclaimed in indignation.  
  
“Klaus! Are you crazy?”  
  
But contrary to their protests, Ben wasn’t the least bit bothered. He simply laughed and punched Klaus back. “That’s for never listening to me and being such an _idiot_ all these years.”  
  
Then the two boys were half-hugging, half-wrestling, both laughing.  
  
“Didn’t you even miss each other?” Diego said, confused.  
  
Klaus replied, an arm slung across Ben’s shoulder. “How could I miss this guy? He never left me alone, no matter how much I told him to get lost.”  
  
“Well, someone had to keep from killing yourself.” Ben elbowed Klaus in the ribs simply because he could.  
  
Luther’s eyes narrowed. “You were actually with Klaus? The whole time?”  
  
Ben nodded.  
  
“I _told_ you so,” Klaus said in a sing-song way, waving his hand.  
  
Luther had the sense to look slightly abashed.  
  
“Well, anyway, welcome back, Ben,” Five said, a toothy grin spreading across his face. “I had hoped this might happen.”  
  
“So, how did this happen, Mr. All-Knowing Five? If this was part of your plan.”  
  
“Well, I didn’t _know_ for sure what would happen—”  
  
“Wow, admitting you don’t know something—”  
  
“Be quiet, Diego,” Five snapped. “I hoped that if Klaus could bring Ben’s consciousness with us, then it would join back with his body in this time, because that’s basically what happened to all of us. That’s why we’re kids. All of our bodies stayed behind in 2019, and just our consciousnesses came along. Is that _simple enough_ for you all to understand?”  
  
Allison rolled her eyes. “Despite what you think, we’re not total idiots.”  
  
“Speak for yourself,” Klaus interjected.  
  
“Oh, be quiet, Klaus,” Luther grumbled, adjusting Vanya. “We need to decide what to do with Vanya. Should we put her—”  
  
“We are _absolutely not_ locking her in the cellar again.”  
  
“Diego, I wasn’t going to s—”  
  
“We should take her to—”  
  
“—put her in her bedroom—”  
  
“I was going to say that—”  
  
“Oh, shut up!” Ben yelled, relishing the ability to make himself heard. “She goes in her own bed. That’s what everyone is trying to say anyway. Damn, we can’t even have a proper conversation.” He was grinning so hard it almost hurt.

# ***********

# 

Night had fallen, and most of the siblings were in their respective rooms. With uncharacteristic luck, they had arrived on a night when Reginald Hargreeves was out and they had been able to avoid arousing the suspicions of Pogo or Grace. Of course, neither of them were expecting the children to actually be from over a decade in the future, and any peculiarities would likely be dismissed as kids being kids anyway.  
  
Vanya was still unconscious, and Ben had offered to sit by her side as everyone else was about to drop with exhaustion, even Klaus. Allison had insisted she be there when Vanya awoke, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open. When she nearly toppled to the floor, Ben made her go to bed and took her place. He didn’t want to sleep anyway. For the first time in so long he could actually _do things_ and _touch things_. He had a million things he wanted to do, and sleeping was not one of them.  
  
Diego was reasonably concerned over what Vanya might think if she woke up to see her dead brother, but Ben was sure she wouldn’t.  
  
Of course, that’s exactly what happened. 

  
  


Ben was reading an old favorite book, occasionally doodling in the margins just because he _could_ , and was engrossed in being able to turn the pages and feel the paper and hold a pen and make something in the real world actually change. He didn’t hear the covers rustling or the springs creak as Vanya slowly sat up.  
“Ben.”  
  
Ben jumped in his seat, pen flying out of his hand and rolling under the bed. “Vanya!”  
  
“It’s really you, Ben.” She didn’t seem nearly as excited as he expected. “So, I guess I’m dead, then. Weird that I would end up here of all places, though.”  
  
“No, Vanya. You’re not.”  
  
“Not here?”  
  
“Not dead.”  
  
“But I can see you. Did I get Klaus’s powers?” she said, a hint of sarcasm creeping in.  
  
Ben’s grin split his face. “You’re not dead—I’m alive.”  
  
Vanya blinked twice. “Huh?”  
  
“I’m alive.”  
  
“What.”  
  
“We all travelled back in time, right as part of the moon was crashing towards Earth. Five brought us back to when we were—or are, I guess—thirteen, and I’m alive again.”  
  
Vanya’s face clouded, a deep horror spreading over it. “I… I… I caused the apocalypse. I killed everyone, didn’t I?”  
  
“It’s okay, Vanya, we’re going to change that. It’ll be okay.”  
  
“Oh my god.” Her breathing sped up and her eyes went blank with horror. The bed started to quake.  
  
Ben grabbed her hands. “Vanya! Look at me. Look at me. It’s okay. I’m _here_ , Vanya. No one’s dead. Everyone’s fine.”  
  
“But I still did that. I’m...I’m evil.” Her voice rang hollow.  
  
“No, you’re not.”  
  
“I am.”  
  
Ben grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Vanya, stop it! You’re not! We’re the ones who messed up! We’re the ones who hurt you. We isolated you and ignored you and we were wrong. We’re all really, really sorry. I’m sorry, Vanya. I’m really sorry.”  
  
Vanya stared at the floor. “You were dead, Ben. How could you have done anything?”  
  
“I’m sorry for what I didn’t do before I died. And even when I was dead, I should have said something. I should have made Klaus talk to you or visit you more, or make him tell the others to treat you better. Just something, anything. I’m sorry I didn’t.”  
  
Vanya’s chest still heaved, but the room stilled and her eyes looked a bit less glassy. She took several deep breaths, squeezing her eyes closed.  
  
“It’s okay, Ben.” She open her eyes and looked at Ben. “Honestly, no one would have listened to Klaus if you had tried.”  
  
Ben had to admit she was right, though he hated the fact.  
  
“Well, now we’re going to fix everything. We came back for a do-over. We’ll change everything, okay?”  
  
Vanya didn’t agree, but she didn’t protest either. She just looked at Ben with wide eyes, swaying as if blown by a mild breeze.  
  
“Ben….”  
  
“Yeah, V?”  
  
“Are you really here? This really isn’t a dream?”  
  
“It’s not a dream. I’m really here.” He couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “I’m alive and I can touch things and talk to people and feel hungry and eat food, and it’s so damn amazing.” He laughed again, and Vanya couldn’t help but grin at his excitement. He decided the best course of action was to follow this course of thought and distract her from more dark thoughts.  
  
“I never thought I would be excited to eat baked beans, but they were so incredibly amazing! Can you imagine me loving baked beans? They’re my most hated food ever.”  
  
Vanya laughed, kicked the blanket aside, and wrapped Ben in a hug. Ben hugged her back and let the moment linger. They both needed this.  
  
Vanya finally leaned back. “You know, I’m kind of hungry.”  
  
“How about...donuts?”  
  
“That sounds perfect. Probably a terrible choice for dinner, but whatever. Let’s get donuts!” 

  
  


When Ben finally went to bed, stomach amazingly and uncomfortably full of sugar, he couldn’t stop smiling. Maybe he kept forgetting about the solidness of walls and had already earned himself a few bruises. Maybe he wasn’t used to moving out of people’s way and had gotten several dirty looks when he walked into people on the way to the donut shop. Maybe he had forgotten how to judge when he had eaten enough and had seriously overeaten. None of that mattered right now. He would readjust to all of that soon enough.  
  
What mattered was that - after so many long years - the seven siblings were together, under the same roof, on the same page, and all alive. They were going to work together, make everything better, and finally save the world. It might be hard—no, it would be hard. But no Commission, no horrible father, no Harold would be able to stop them this time.  
  
Ben pulled the blanket to his chin and drifted off for the first time in years.


End file.
